1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mounting structure for an airbag apparatus which is mounted on a door of a vehicle.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-052603 and Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-052605 filed on Mar. 2, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
In the ease of a vehicle collision or the like, a door mounted airbag apparatus which protects passengers by deploying an airbag mounted in a door along the inner surface of the window is known. As a mounting structure to mount such an airbag apparatus in a door panel, a structure is known in which a bracket is fixed in the door panel to form an opening end opening upward together with the door panel, the airbag being held in a folded state in the door panel and the bracket, and the opening end of the door panel and the bracket being covered by a lining member which is provided in the door on the side of the vehicle interior (for example, refer to Patent Document 1). In this structure, since it is necessary for the airbag to push and open the lining member when the airbag deploys, a hinge portion which is fragile and easy to be deformed is provided in the lining member to ease deployment. The portion which coves the opening end of the lining member is formed to be rotatable about the hinge portion. The hinge portion can instead be formed in an upper side formation portion which faces upward. A supporting portion which supports the lining member upwardly and laterally is provided in a lateral side formation portion which is provided facing laterally to the lining member. The lateral direction is the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (front to back direction) of the vehicle.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3750576
With the above-described structure, it has been necessary to mount the airbag apparatus between the bracket and the door panel after mounting the bracket in the door panel and the lining member had to be mounted in the big door panel in this state. It has been known to be a problem because the mounting operation is complicated and also it is not easy to control the mounting accuracy. Also, there has been a possibility such that when the lining member is mounted in the door, if a load is applied to the fragile hinge portion, it deforms and a crease or the like is made.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a mounting structure for an airbag apparatus in which the mounting operation of the lining member and the control of the mounting accuracy are easy and which is also capable of preventing deformations during the mounting operation of the lining member.
Also, if the hinge is provided in the upper side formation portion, there is a possibility that a lid portion which rotates about the binge portion of the lining member is narrow during deployment of the airbag and it is not possible to smoothly perform deployment of the airbag. Also, if the supporting portion which supports the lining member downwardly is provided in the lateral side formation portion of the lining members it is possible to deform the lining member even in a normal state when a load is applied to the upper side formation portion.
Therefore, the other object of the present invention is to provide a mounting structure for an airbag apparatus in which when a load is applied to the upper side formation portion of the lining member in a normal state, it is possible to prevent deformation and also it is possible to smoothly perform deployment of the airbag by widely opening the lining member during deployment of the airbag.